Good morning, Beer Fans! With the extreme cold weather we’ve had this week, things have slowed down a bit more… but here’s a few tidbits of news to help warm you up a bit!

• Gahan House Halifax has a couple of new beers that we’d like to tell you about: This week saw the release of their latest seasonal, Winter IPA. Weighing in at 7.2% ABV, the beer features four different hop varieties, to 85 IBUs. It has a nice caramel and malt sweetness, but is well balanced by the hop bitterness. It joins the Gingerbread Unfiltered Amber Ale, which has been on for a couple of weeks. Brewed with an English yeast, the Amber base was enhanced using a specially-made chai syrup from Gahan’s Historic Properties neighbours, Two If By Sea. Catch them both at the brewery while you can, and the Pleasures and Treasures Maple Whiskey Porter is back on tap as well.

• As the weekend approaches, Railcar Brewing has several more new beers in the pipeline. Two of these are already pouring at the brewery: their American Amber is a malty-sweet, reddish-colored beer that comes in at a very sessionable 4.5% ABV, and 18 IBUs, while the Irish Dry Stout was brewed in collaboration with Basset Hound Brewing (from homebrewer Justin Tompkins). This low-ABV (4%), roasty ale has a calculated bitterness of about 37 IBUs. Look for several new brews to follow shortly, including The Darkest One, a Black IPA that clocks in at a whopping 9.4% ABV and 55 IBUs, and is hopped with Cascade, Fuggles, and Goldings; Something Brown, a 5.5% ABV and 21 IBUs Brown Ale; and Chocolate Coffee Porter, a strong (8.8% ABV) dark beer which will feature a blend of coffee named River Valley Blend, from Fancy Coffee Services. And nope, that’s not all… Railcar owner/brewer Mitch Biggar plans on re-brewing a batch of his Biggar’s Best Bitter, a 7.5% ABV and 55 IBUs English Bitter, this weekend!

• Grimross currently has an online survey active that allows participants to vote on their favorite Grimross beer. Owner/brewer Stephen Dixon is looking for feedback on which beers to brew in the near future to fill up all five available taps at the newly-opened brewery/tasting room; this is also a way to gauge interest for new brews in the future! Hop on over and cast your vote; the survey will be closed by Monday.

• Liverpool’s Hell Bay Brewing has released the last version in their ongoing series, the R.I.P.(A.) IPA. This time around, the malt bill will be the same as the previous version, but is being hopped more assertively with six different hop varietals, for more bitterness and aroma. Their Chocolat (Chocolate Wheat Ale) is back this week as well, featuring a rum extraction of cocoa and vanilla beans to enhance the aroma and flavour of the dark roast and crystal malts. Both of these beers are available in growlers at the brewery, with a few kegs being sent to better beer establishments around the province.

• Paddys Irish Brewpub in Kentville and Wolfville debuted a new beer this weekend. The 542 Belgian IPA features American C-hops ( Centennial and ( Citra) and Belgian yeast for a fruity and tasty beer. The beer finished fairly low in gravity (2.8 Plato or 1.011 Specific Gravity) and 6.9% ABV, for a nice light body, and hefty bitterness, at 65 IBU. Drop by either Pub for a pint today!

If you’re out around Fredericton, you may want to stop by King Street Ale House and/or 540 Kitchen & Bar, as both should have the new TrailWaySession IPA on tap (see last week’s post for more info) by tonight or tomorrow. The brewers at Picaroons are starting to play with the smaller brew system at the Brewtique – they just brewed up a batch of unfiltered Best Bitter that we may see available in the near future. Garrison Brewing’sBlack IPA is back again, and is now available in 650 mL bombers. Also, a reminder that tickets for this year’s Fredericton Craft Beer Festival are over 85% sold out, and their NB HopSpiel (February’s outdoor curling/beer event) is filling up fast, so don’t wait much longer to get your tickets/register your team!